With the school year winding down, it's not surprising that seniors at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School are feeling a bit conflicted.

Happy because the four-year journey called high school — with its tests, homework, early morning starts — is nearing an end, but melancholy because it's almost time to say good-bye to classmates, friends and teachers.

"Rumson has the best school spirit in the world," 18-year-old Rumson resident Michael Warshauer says.

To prove the point, Michael and fellow senior Connor DeWyngaert, 18, perform a series of tumbles and cartwheels across the school's athletic field during gym class.

"It's a great school," Connor says, "the best around."

There's no doubt students play hard at Rumson . . . but they work equally hard as well.

"I think I'm going to miss the teachers and faculty, because they genuinely care about us," says senior class president James Honsa, who's heading off to Stanford University in the fall. "They just haven't educated us, but they've helped turn us into better citizens."

Senior Lucy Humphreys says it's hard to believe that her four years at Rumson went by so quickly.

"There's a sense of nostalgia," says the Fair Haven resident, who will be attending New York University, "because it seems like just yesterday that we were freshmen. But you know what? I am proud of what I've accomplished . . . what we've all accomplished here."

There is no question, James says, that the school has prepared the senior class for college . . . and beyond.

"A quality education - and fulfilling your potential - is what was expected of us," James says, "and the skill set that we have developed will help us in whatever we do."

In an otherwise empty art room, senior Ryan Maloney is putting the finishing touches on his duct tape suit jacket for the school's Runway to a Remedy "'"walking art" fashion show to benefit the Jacqueline M. Wilentz Comprehensive Breast Center at Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch.

The 18-year-old Fair Haven resident got the idea when he was buying a suit for prom.

"I had wanted to be a part of the show because it's for such a great cause, and when I was trying on the suit, the idea just came to me," he says. "So I'm making a suit jacket, shirt and tie . . . there's not anything else like it, that's for sure."

For principal Tracy Handerhan, Rumson Fair-Haven is a special place.

"RFH is truly a community institution, an academic institution, an institution of tradition and institution of family," says Handerhan, who has been at the school's helm for three years.

And what would people be surprised to learn about the high school?

"Probably how silly we can be," Handerhan says with a laugh. "We work very hard, but we also play hard . . . it's a great mix."